Merry Thursday

I know that there are some folk who find the rush to Christmas depressing, discouraging, even damnable. To judge from the conversations of a few, this pre-season frenzy is indicative of all that is wrong with the world. The “haruumphs!” are worthy of old Ebenezer himself.

On the other hand, the race to Christmas suggests to me a deep, if inarticulate, yearning for better times. The tendency to bedeck one’s home in gauche lights and kitschy displays reveals the unending expectation that life should be better than it is.

The mass media, of course, feed this desire with sweetly sentimental advertisements depicting the happiest of families gathered in warm, cozy and oh-so-exquisite dining rooms while the snow gently falls from the heavens.

I am really not suggesting that there is anything wrong with all this romantic reverie. I simply find it curious that, year after year, we buy into a fantasy that inevitably fails.

Perhaps this year we should put our longing into a clearer perspective and recognize that the possibility for special times exists everyday and not only the last week in December.

Imagine the prospect of celebrating Christmas more often than once a year!

I suggest every Thursday.

Visualize the happiness that could be ours if every Thursday the schools and stores would all be closed, gifts would be exchanged, wonderful meals would be shared, hearts would be filled with thoughts of peace on earth and good will to all.

So what’s stopping us?

Oh, I can hear the grinches already deriding the proposal,

” Why, if we had Christmas every Thursday, it wouldn’t be really special.”

Such thinking always confuses me. After all, I love my wife but if we decided to limit our lovemaking to once a year…

Occasionally, when I am planning what hymns to sing on Sunday morning, I’ll surprise my sleepy flock with “Joy to the World” in August or “Away in the Manger” on a gray February morning. You should see their faces beam.

So what about every Thursday?

If this really took off, the restaurant business would boom, the gift shops should flourish and, coincidentally, the churches would be packed.

This is a really a great idea.

The only folk who might be against my recommendation would be those who suffer from post-holiday blues. They’re probably not going to be too keen on all of this.

Merry Thursday, everyone!

Creeds

I find creeds to be an excellent example of our occasionally outrageous table manners. These holy documents were carved out of several centuries of Christian experience. They were and are an attempt to describe the kind of faith that was emerging among the followers of Christ. Sadly, they quickly turned into a kind of loyalty oath or litmus test of one’s status with God. This wasn’t their intention at all. Instead of description, the creeds became a kind of prescription. Unless you believe the way we do, people began to say, you cannot be saved. What a travesty of their original purpose and promise. When Jesus asks that we believe in him it’s not that we agree to some kind of theological proposition but rather that we enter into his life, walk where he is going, share in his experiences. This is what it means, I am convinced, to truly believe in Jesus. The bread of life is not to be broken down into its chemical components so that we might have some clever formula for salvation. The bread of life is to be eaten so that we may live and live abundantly.

There are times when I have quietly wished I might have more faith. I marvel at my friends and colleagues whose faith includes a certitude of creed and doctrine that mine simply does not. Deep within our tradition is the conviction that faith is a gift from God and for whatever reasons, God appears to have given me a little less than God has given others. I honestly believe God has some good reasons for this, one of them being that perhaps such ambiguity allows me to understand those good folk who struggle as I do with the lack of certitude and still continue to follow. I’m one of those who has found that following Jesus is much more productive than trying to figure him out. Indeed, even with all the books I have read, I can’t think of one that has done more for my faith than my experiences of walking where Jesus walked. One of the best ways, I have found, for renewing my faith is not by picking up a book or studying a creed but by reaching out to ask forgiveness or offer it, visiting the sick, listening to the lonely, walking for a while with another wanderer on the way. In a curious way, I treasure my fragile faith and humbly suggest you might even do the same with yours.

Amen!

Enemy and Friend Equally Worth

“If being a Christian is to be like some people I have met…., and I wasn’t already a Christian I would run the other way swearing never to become a Christian….” this is true. Some Christians scare the living daylights out of me. Not because I am an un-believer, which they think is the reason they scare me, but because they behave like the Pharisees Jesus chastised throughout the Gospels. Petty, judgmental, self-righteous, dishonest, and quite vicious in their approach to people who do not bow to their “party-line”.

On the other hand: “Compassion means that if I see my friend and my enemy in equal need, I shall help both equally.”

I once met a man who was a born again Christian, and honestly thought and practiced the very opposite of the latter quote above. He was a doctor, and if a Christian (he knew to be Christian) came into the hospital at the same time with a homeless or drug addict, he would treat the Christian first, regardless of whether the Christian was more need or not.
To me this is significant for the kind of Christians that scare me.

The very opposite to this, in my opinion, is Jesus Christ. I must say that I often wonder at how these people read the Holy Scriptures. They seem to be more interested in quoting Romans 1 at people than living Matthew 5-7.

For being violently opposed to adhering to the Law of Moses, which they profess is part of their Holy Scriptures, they strike me as very legalistic and akin to the Pharisees the denounce.

Has God Changed?

When we separated ourselves from this (the Jews), we began to look at Yeshua from Athens instead of Jerusalem, and have in many ways lost unimaginable wisdom and clarity over the millenia. But, it is now being restored, I think.

One of the mistakes we made, in my opinion, was to contrast Adonai with Jesus, and somehow come to the conclusion that the God of the Hebrew Bible was/is a vengeful, unforgiving and merciless God, whereas Jesus was/is loving, forgiving and merciful. Now that comparison can actually be made in the reverse. Here’s how:

From the Hebrew Scriptures:

The LORD forgives sins, and it is only the LORD who forgives sins, as it says, “I, I alone, erase your sins, for My sake, and I will not remember your iniquities.” (Isaiah 43:25)

And also, it says, “I, I alone am God, and no one other than I is a savior.” (Isaiah 43:11)

And it says, “I, I alone, comfort you; how can you, who are worthy, fear a person, who will die, a son of man, who is as short-lived as grass?”

Statements of God’s mercy are found all over the Hebrew Scriptures. “For the LORD is a merciful Power….” (Deuteronomy 4:31)

“For he is merciful, He will atone sin, He will not destroy…” (Psalms 78:38)

“And he prayed to the LORD, and he said, Please, LORD …. for I know that You are a merciful and compassionate Power, difficult to anger, and has much kindness, and forgives evil.” (Jonah 4:2)

“The wicked should forsake his ways, and the evil person should forsake his plans, and return to the LORD, Who will have mercy on him, for He forgives abundantly.” (Isaiah 55:7)

“The LORD is merciful and compassionate, difficult to anger, and has much kindness.” (Psalms 103:8) “Tear your hearts, and not your clothes, and return to the LORD your God, for He is compassionate and merciful, difficult to anger, and has much kindness, and forgives evil.” (Joel 2:13)

“The LORD has made memorials of the miracles He performed for us; the LORD is full of compassion and mercy. the LORD is good to all, and His mercy is on all His creations.” (Psalms 111:4-5)

And so on, all over the Hebrew Scriptures. As to sinners, the Hebrew Scriptures says, “He who hides his sin will not be successful, but he who confesses to the LORD and forsakes his sin, will receive mercy.” (Proverbs 28:13)

All quotes below are from Gospel according to Matthew, unless it’s actually attributed:

Jesus is quoted as having said: “But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (8:13) Why doesn’t he just forgive them, and allow them into Heaven? Where is the forgiveness? Where is the mercy?

Jesus is also quoted as saying, “But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.” (10:33) So those who do not believe in Jesus will not go to Heaven. How is that more merciful?

“And you, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell.” (11:23) It is not explained why Capernaum was exalted to Heaven, (meaning that many miracles supposedly took place there), will be brought down to hell. In any case, since they Jesus considered it worse than Sodom, they would be destroyed and sent to hell. Again, where is the mercy in this?

“…but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men.” (12:30) Notice that not only is this considered a sin, it won’t even be forgiven! This is reiterated again (in verse 32), “whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.”

And here’s a beauty; “but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.” (13:12) Of course, that one doesn’t even make sense. How can you take away something from someone who has nothing? But what does that matter in the face of strong blind faith? Christians are taught to have blind faith, The actual words written in the Christian bible are not as important as having faith. It made sense, by the way, in the original Talmudic version that Jesus distorted it from, which was, “Whoever tries to take what does not belong to him, what he seeks he will not get, and what he has shall be taken away from him” (Babylonian Talmud, Sotah 9a). What Jesus did there is to take part of the words and apply them to something else. What he applies them to shows yet more of his cruelty. The disciples ask him why he speaks in parables. He answers that it is to prevent the masses from understanding him. For the masses have nothing, that is, they do not know the ‘mysteries of Heaven.” Since they do not know those secrets, they have nothing, and therefore they shall be given nothing, and all their merits — although they have none — will be taken away from them. Well, they have no merits, he says. And you know what, Jesus says that he will not even give them the chance to get any merits at all! Jesus said that he spoke in parables so that the masses would not understand and perhaps gain heaven, because they had closed their own eyes and it was their fault anyway. “Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.” (13:13-15) In other words, if they would understand the parables, they might repent, and be converted, and he would heal them from their sins. And he does not wish that to happen for them. He cruelly denies them the possibility of repentance and conversion! (Not that he could really have granted it to them anyway, but the Christian belief is that he could have. In that case, he is cruel for refusing to do so!)

He and John the Baptist did a similar thing with the Pharisees. According to Matthew (3:7), the Pharisees came to John the Baptist when he was baptizing people, but he rejected them and refused to baptize them. ” But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” Later, Jesus said that the Pharisees were to blame for not going to John the Baptist! “For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not; but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him.” (21:32) John never even gave them a chance, and Jesus still blames them! This is merciful?

What will happen in the future, asks Matthew? “The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.” (13:41-42)

He repeats this again: “So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.” (13:49-50) No forgiveness, no mercy, for those he considers evil. But wait! It gets worse! Who does he consider evil?

Get a load of this! “Whosoever shall say, You fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.” (5:22) In other words, just for calling someone else a fool, you will go to hell forever. This is being merciful? “But if you forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” (6:14) While this seems somewhat logical and fair, it is not particularly merciful. In what way is Jesus merciful? “That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.” (5:21) In other words, if you are not very righteous, says Jesus, you will not go to Heaven. No mercy, no exceptions. But it gets worse!

Look what Jesus says about the average person: And Jesus spoke to them again with parables, and said, The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who made a wedding for his son, And sent out his servants to call the guests to the wedding: but they would not come. Again, he sent our other servants, saying, Tell the guests, Look, I have prepared a large dinner: I have killed my best animals for the meal, and everything is ready: so please come to the wedding. But they didn’t take it seriously, and continued whatever they had been doing before: one went back to his farm, another went back to selling his merchandise: And the rest of them took the king’s servants, and treated them spitefully, or killed them. When the king heard about this, he was very angry, and he sent out his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. Then he said to his servants, The wedding is ready, but the people who were originally invited were not worthy. Therefore, Go to the highways, and invite to the wedding everyone you find there. So those servants went to the highways, and gathered together everyone they found, both bad and good people: and the wedding had a lot of guests. And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man who was not wearing a wedding garment: And he said to him, Friend, how can you come her without wearing a wedding garment? And the man was speechless. So the king said to the servants, Tie him up very tightly, and take him away, and throw him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen. This is from Matthew, Chapter 2, verses 1-14 In other words, a simple man from the street, who did not expect to be called to the wedding, was suddenly brought to the wedding. Yet because he was not already wearing wedding clothes, he was punished! Many are called, Jesus says, but this man was NOT called. It is hardly his fault that he was not ready! This parable reveals the horror of Jesus’ teachings. The people in the street had not been invited to the wedding, and they never expected to be there. They had no command, indeed, they had no reason, to be wearing wedding clothes or to get ready for the wedding in any way. Yet they were pulled in suddenly, unexpectedly. And for not being prepared for something they had no reason to attend, this man is punished! And the meaning of this parable is that when the time comes, and someone is not ready for G-d, he will be punished even though he did not expect to be called! This is cruel in the extreme. Jesus was not merciful. Jesus condemns everyone who does not believe in him.

“Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.” (25:11-13) Where is the mercy here? The statement here is that they did not deserve to go to Heaven. If only those who fully deserve it go to Heaven, how is that being merciful? And then there is Jesus’ beliefs about marriage and divorce. How cruel it is to force a man and woman who are incompatible with each other to stay married to each other and not remarry (5:31-32).

Moreover, he said that it is better not to marry (19:10-12). But if a man marries, and discovers that it was better not to marry, he must still suffer all his life in the marriage!!! This is kind? No, this is cruel! Think about it. Jesus said that it is better not to marry. Yet nevertheless, he forbade divorce to everyone, even though not everyone can take it! It is hard to know which is crueler, to force men to stay single, or to force an incompatible couple to stay married. And if the woman leaves the husband, she may not even remarry, because Jesus says that this is adultery (5:32)! Jesus commits numerous cruelties with this ruling. The very fact that such words were attributed to him by the very people who adopted him as God and brought him to the rest of the world as God, means to me that I don’t want or need to know anything more about him. His own believers and followers reported him as being cruel, and no amount of whitewashing by later Christians can change that. By their account, Jesus was cruel, which in itself shows that he was not on God’s side. According to his words, it is very difficult to attain Heaven. For he demanded that his followers love him more than their parents and children (Matthew 10:37); that they give up their entire lives and travel with him (ibid, 38-39); that they give away all their possessions and all they call their own (19:21); and that they never get divorced (5:32).

His demands were utterly impossible, often abusive, and indeed, few Christians have ever fulfilled them. As if those are not sufficiently difficult, he also insisted that you allow people to rob you, and even help them hurt you (5:38-41).

Of course Christians don’t keep that! All of society would collapse if those rules were kept! In point of fact, Christians have been the biggest source of hurt throughout history.

The Christian bible insists that Christians sell everything they own, and give it all to the poor. Is this more merciful than the Law of Mose? The Law of Mose in most cases prohibits giving away all your assets, because that would make you destitute and dependant upon charity yourself, forcing others to support you when you are capable of supporting yourself. Therefore, the Law of Moses commands you to give only a tithe, one tenth of your assets. At most you may give one fifth, except in case of certain emergencies. Jesus demands that you give everything away. Giving away everything you own is much harder than giving away only a tenth. Yet Paul claims that the Law of Moses is more difficult to keep than the Laws of Jesus. Not true, obviously. Jesus’ laws are cruel, unreasonable and wrong. Of course, very few (if any) Christians keep them, because they know those laws are impossible to keep.

(The Quotes and the idea for this comparison comes from Rabbi Mordechai Houseman.)

We need to SEE Jesus the way others SEE him, and deal with that, with what they perceive. Not as in “they are blinded by the devil and cannot see…” or “the unbelievers will find any excuse not to believe”. We cannot expect the Holy Spirit to teach them, because the Holy Spirit has not yet been made available to them, as they have not accepted Jesus. If we fail to truly empathize with them as humans, as intelligent, thinking, feeling human beings we betray the very Faith we claim to profess.

Another thing that has blinded US is apologetics. The notion that our Faith, God and the Bible needs “defending” and the construction of apologetics. It doesn’t. Really. If our faith is anything to emulate and adopt, then it will be visible to people in our way of life, not our words, statements, bible quotes and “hallelujahs”.

We have to accept this view of Jesus as a reality for most people, and stop denying the reality of what he said also when that means having to say: “I don’t know why he said that, and yes, you are right it doesn’t make sense. Perhaps it’s not supposed to make sense? Perhaps
something’s missing in the narration, that would explain it? Perhaps Faith is more a matter of accepting the inexplicable, than being right or wrong?”

“Action speaks louder than words” the adage says. Calling our fellowman “unbeliever” “non-believer”, “false prophet” “blind” etc other similar epithets to describe them to them and to ourselves, because we think they don’t understand or because they believe a little differently from us or because they don’t believe at all. This is, whether we think so or not, a gross violation of what the Bible teaches. It has only one out-come, that people walk away from God, disappointed, hurt, angry and convinced that being a Christian means you have to be nasty, judgmental, arrogant and rude to people whom you disagree with.

Who is ultimately responsible for the sight, hearing and understanding of people? God:

Exodus 4:11 “And the LORD said unto him, Who hath made man’s mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the LORD?”

Now, if we think they are blind and deaf, let’s follow the Word of God: Lev 19:14 “Thou shalt not curse the deaf, nor put a stumblingblock before the blind, but shalt fear thy God: I am the LORD.”

Henry

Of Crosses and Serpents and Searching Scriptures…

“Numbers 21:6-9 And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died. Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD, and against thee; pray unto the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people. And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.

The reference you cited is a type of the Cross.

However, you would only get to this reading backwards, not forwards. What do you get if you read this forwards?

Why did I say that the idea of a serpent curing serpent bite is interesting? How about this idea: We know that anti-dotes and anti-venoms are made from a small amount of the dangerous substance (poison, virus). Did the ancients know this? Was the Brass Serpent Story a way for them to record this knowledge and pass it on? Were there any images of Serpents around in that time, that area that might have significant meaning?

Why does God tell Moses to specifically break the command not to make graven or molten images of anything in heaven, on earth, in the sea or beneath the earth? Because that was what the Brass Serpent was: A molten Image of a Snake. There are many theories, one theory that Jesus must have known, because it’s part of the Jewish tradition, is that this very incident is where the damage done by the serpent in Eden is healed in reality.

To me there is never just one or two angles to a text in Scriptures. A wise man once said about Scriptures “Turn it, turn it and turn it again, all is in it!”
H”

This was posted in a Christian Discussion Group.

I don’t know what it is that makes it so fearsome to read the Hebrew Scriptures as Jesus and the 12 read them? But people get positively hysterical at the mere suggestion that one would do something like that.

Someone asked me three questions about this manner of reading and I responded. The questions are in bold.

What would be the purpose of reading as you have suggested?

“1Co 9:19-23 For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more. And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law; To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law. To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. And this I do for the gospel’s sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you.”

What would we gain by doing so?

Understanding, compassion, knowledge, especially about what it was Jesus was raised with, lived by and taught.

“Joh 5:39 Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.”

It’s only logical that we search the same Scriptures, with the same basic premises, that Jesus was talking about. We might be missing something?

How would it edify and bring glory to God?

Isn’t learning and teaching glorifying God in itself?

“1Co 9:23 …this I do for the gospel’s sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you.”

“1Co 10:31 Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.”

2Co 4:15 For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.

 

Am I my Brother’s Keeper?

One of the reasons we are so reluctant to engage in serious Bible study is that it forces us to examine our faith. A serious encounter with Scripture demands that we acknowledge that some, perhaps much, of what we believe about God has very little to do with the Bible. For instance, the very idea that faith is ever just a private matter between ourselves and God is as foreign to Scripture as strawberry ice cream. The whole course of Biblical history involves community. Out of the wilderness of Sinai, a people emerged. They were chosen by God to be proclaimers of truth. A people not a person.

Out of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus the Christ, a people was called to be the church. Never in isolation and always in community. One of the most anti-Biblical theses is this preposterous understanding of privacy as somehow being a sacred right. If we really read the Bible, we discover over and over again that to be a follower of the God of Israel and the God of Jesus is to be responsible to the community. It is to not stand idly by when people are suffering. It is to never allow disagreements to separate us from our sisters and brothers. It is to speak out and act out when political, economic, social, even religious forces continue to oppress the poor and weak, the outcast and hungry.

Am I my Brother’s Keeper? asked Kain when God asked him where Abel was. Kain was Abel’s biological brother, so they were related. However, the word in Hebrew used for “brother” is much wider in meaning than merely biological kinship.

אח
‘âch
awkh
A primitive word; a brother (used in the widest sense of literal relationship and metaphorical affinity or resemblance (like H1)): – another, brother (-ly), kindred, like, other.

So what God is asking of Kain is: Where is Thy Other? And Kain answers “Am I the Keeper of my Other?”.
The fact is that the Biblical answer to that question is: Yes, you are!
Every human being on this earth is your Other.

So often we wish that we weren’t “related” to people, that we could just sit in a corner and be with those who think, speak and believe exactly as we do. Our Brothers. Those who do not think, speak or believe exactly like we do, we label the others, (in our minds and opposition to “brother” and those we exclude or withdraw from, to avoid having to look at ourselves, our own thinking and believing. We shun the difficult parts of Scriptures, the difficult parts of life and of the human race, because communicating with those parts of reality might lead to us having to change the way we think, speak and believe.

Here I am LORD, the Keeper of my Other, help me see myself honestly, without fear and denial of who my Other is. Amen

“Holy” War…

Psalm 25:19 “See how my enemies have increased and how fiercely they hate me!“

Despite my agnosticism I have joined several Christian Groups on-line. Motive: Intellectual and Spiritual inspiration and to keep the old noggen occupied with things that interest me. Plus, because I am a Christian, and belong in the Christian Community on-line.

I am not very well liked in those Groups. I would dare say that I am quite hated and feared. Except for a few, a very few, people either ignore me, call me names or do their best to silence me. The most recent technique they employ is to bump (yes, just “bump” – with no content…) other threads in which I have not posted, so that my threads or threads where I have posted disappear from the “most recent discussions” roster.

It is very effective in depriving people of what, if only little, I have to contribute, nfortunately for those people employing this technique, I have seen through it and have decided to “bump” my threads that very same way.

Another technique is to start a thread with almost the same title as one I have started. One woman did this just the other day, simply because she disliked the way the discussion was turning, and felt that what I had to say about Psalm 51:5 wasn’t her cup of tea. Or as she expressed it “un-Christian”.

A third manner in which these people try to silence me is by calling me almost every name in the “Christian Book Of Name-Calling”:

Unbeliever, foolish, deceived by the devil, not born again, not enlightened by the Spirit, false prophet, Christ-denier and other “nice things”…

One poster even came in and suggested that I was dangerous to the community…

I believe, they said the same about Huss, Calvin, Luther, Schartau, Laestadius and others who didn’t write according to the opinion of the majority. It seems I am in good company

Books aren’t everything

What is so confusing about Christianity is that it cannot just be studied to be understood. Certainly there is a great tradition of scholarship associated with this faith of ours but it is so much more than that.

Christianity is a way of life. As we experience it, we come to understand it.

What is it that compelled Mother Teresa into the slums of Calcutta or Albert Schweitzer to spend most of his life in the jungle of Lambarene or you into a sanctuary on a Sunday morning? It certainly isn’t just a book of nice little sayings. It isn’t listening to a litany of moralistic proverbs.

It is a way of life that can only be understood from the inside. Only from the inside because the paradox of Christian living seems too absurd to be true.

In giving we receive.

In losing we win.

In dying we rise to new life.

How often people will say to me that they don’t think they are much of a Christian because they don’t know the Bible or they still have to read the words of the creed or they stumble over the ancient liturgy.

The mark of a Christian is not how much you understand but how you follow.

Being a good person, loving caring, compassionate, non-judgmental, honorable and humble is exactly what God asks us to be – Micah 6:8:

“He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”

No books can do that, not even the Bible

Testimony

I believe in the Bible but it is a belief that is centered not in words but in The Word and The Word is a word of life and love, forgiveness and joy. I do not accept that every comma and period was placed on paper by a divine finger. There are a multitude of passages that either never did or at least no longer apply to our own spiritual journeys. They are passages that speak to other times and cultures and they are of no assistance on my religious pilgrimage.I judge the Bible by Christ and not Christ by the Bible. Where there is life, love, hope, joy, forgiveness and grace there is The Word and it is holy. Where there is hatred, exclusion, conditional clauses and legalizing limits there are only words and there is nothing holy about them.

 

I often compare my understanding of the Bible to my appreciation of a fine work of art. Do I believe in the Bible? Yes, of course I do but it is in a sense not unlike my belief that Van Gogh’s “A Starry Night” is more than just a canvas with splashes of cobalt blue, magenta and yellow #7 paint.

 

To limit our understanding of the Holy Bible to a literal and blind acceptance of scribbles on a page is to fail to see the beauty, the majesty, the wonder, the life. It is to fail to see what really makes this book holy.

 

Throughout the Bible God draws people to Him by encouragement, love and positive affirmation. The punishments presented for disobedience are nothing but natural consequences of willfully violating God’s direction. It is sad when people use the Bible to beat others into submission, threaten them and exclude them based on their limited interpretation of what the Bible says. Interpretations based in violence, fear, hatred and self-righteousness.

 

How can these people honestly believe that anyone will want to follow a God who are presented to them through the “testimony” of hateful, judgmental, hateful and self-righteous people? Perhaps they don’t see their own hatred, fear and self-righteousness?

 

Perhaps we all need to start every day humbly asking God to soften our step and our voices, and help us honestly trying to emulate God?
H

It was suggested

I “give my testimony”…

I always disliked that term, because it somehow implies that what we are engaged in is a Court of Law, and what one is about to say is to be judged “true or false”. I don’t like “True or False” either, because it gives way too much power to the words of

I had a brief run in with the equivalent of Southern Baptists in 9th grade. I was lonely. I was the one everyone bullied, except the Christians. So, when presented with the idea of God, I jumped at the chance. It gave me protection during recess, because people didn’t mess with the Christians. I quickly learned that reciting Scriptures to everything that was said gave power and status in the Fundamentalist Christian Community I was part of. I am a quick study and have an excellent memory.
Between 9th and 10th grade I left home, emancipated myself and went to stay at an High Lutheran (it’s pretty similar to the High Anglican Church) retreat. There I was, due to my extreme basic knowledge of the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures, set to teach youngsters Christianity 101. I took part in the services which were 6 times a day, including Mass every day. There was only one problem. Because I was not Baptized I wasn’t allowed to take Communion, something that grieved me, at Mass. After some thinking and praying I decided that being baptized wasn’t such a bad idea. I told the Priest, who told me to spend the night in the Church, praying. I did, and on the morning of July 13th 1979, I was exorcised, baptized, confirmed and immediately took my first communion. Did I believe? Yes. Was there any doubt anywhere in my heart, soul or spirit? No. I knew exactly what I was doing, and I made a conscious choice to commit myself to God. Period.

Today I am 48 years old. I would like to think that after several years studying for the Ministry (two different denominations), my faith has deepened, matured and become more nuanced than it was when I was 16 and let myself be dragged into a Fundamentalist Community. I would like to think that it has changed since I took my first communion, wet and tired, 28 years ago in a strict High Lutheran 11 century Church. I would like to think that it has grown more tolerant and forgiving, less black and white, and that what I believe today is in all its basics what I believed back then. That God is merciful, loving, kind, truthful and forgiving, and that He is constantly Present through His Holy Spirit, as He promises in Scripture.

You may all doubt that any of this that I have told you is just the free fabulations of a blind and hardened heart, and that I am an unbeliever who needs to be saved, for all practical purposes God did that 28 years ago, and since I believe in daily commitment to His Ways, what took place 28 years ago is still in effect. All complaints and doubt about the status of my soul and my salvation – please take them up with God Almighty by Whose grace we are all Redeemed and Saved, and stop insinuating that He did something half-hearted, half-baked and flawed 28 years ago, because you are insulting not only me, but the Almighty Himself.

Job 19:25 For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:

Now, can we commence with discussing Scriptures?
H

The Gift of Faith

There have been times in my spiritual journey when I have bemoaned the fact that I will never be a true believer. For whatever reason, God decided that Rich Mayfield would never be able to swallow anything hook, line and sinker. There would always be a slight pause, a little flicker of hesitation, a lingering doubt or ten. Perhaps you feel the same way. It is what prevents us from going all the way with just about anything. We are denied the utter conviction many of our peers have for a particular philosophy or political persuasion. Indeed, it even permeates our religious identity. We have occasional difficulty accepting the truth of this or the finality of that just because some people say it comes from God. There is always that little harbor of hesitation inside that causes us to go a little slower than others.

If faith is a gift from God, as I believe, then this kind of faith is God’s gift to me and I am called to do what I can with it. I understand that such a theological perspective is frustrating for some who expect Christians and particularly Christian pastors to function without a doubt and nary a question but in the words of that great theologian and spinach-fed sailor…”I yam who I yam and that’s all I can be.”

This curse that is a blessing or this blessing that is a curse, depending on your perspective, does allow a certain viewpoint that others might miss.

“True” believers generally are not open to critique, loving or otherwise. They are utterly and unequivocally convinced of the rightness of their position. Dialogue is most often non-existent. Sadly, I sense some of that in St. Paul and even more tragically I have witnessed countless Christians assume that same position of arrogance. We have even developed an ultimate punishment for those who refuse to agree. It is nonsense, of course, but not for a “true” believer. Ambiguity, nuance, diversity…these are characteristics troubling to the “true” believer. They want answers…unequivocal and utterly certain and they will do anything, anything to get them. Perhaps it is important to mention here that, according to two of the gospels, the very last word of Jesus as he hung dying on the cross was a horrifying question and not a glib and fatuous answer.

On the other hand – I am free to explore the Reality of God, Scriptures and Ideas without risking being gainsaid, having contradicting opinions or loosing my faith. To me not knowing is truly freedom, and it doesn’t in any way make me a lesser servant of God. On the contrary. I think my capacity for contradictions, multiple opinions and their implementation makes me far better at care for the souls that I meet. It also means I understand where other like me are coming from.

Truth is arrived at through arguments, discussion and debate, not through parroting what the Pastor said along with hundred others. How can I know what I truly believe and Whom I truly serve if it’s a matter of “One option, One Choice”. To me the God of “true” believers are small, feeble and limited with his “One Way Fits All”. My God is not afraid of opposition, questions, arguments and deliberation. My God has given me a kind of Faith that leaves room for a curious mind to roam and explore the Universe, ever so often running to Dad, yelling “look what I found, Dad!”. That is something “true” believers will never have.

H